The present invention relates to a blood pressure measuring apparatus and a blood pressure measuring method.
From the viewpoint of reducing a burden on the subject, it is desired to shorten the measuring time in the blood pressure measurement which is performed by pressing an artery by a cuff. Usually, the time for measuring the blood pressure depends largely on the step of, after the pressing of an artery, gradually reducing the cuff pressure. In the blood pressure measurement using the oscillometric method, a pulse wave is detected from an artery while the cuff pressure is gradually reduced, and hence there is a possibility that the pulse wave is affected by disturbance noises (hereinafter, referred to as “artifacts”) caused by a body motion or the like. In the related-art blood pressure measuring apparatus disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,360,029, when, with respect to a specific cuff pressure, two successive pulse waves exhibit an approximately same waveform, the two pulse waves are used in calculation of the blood pressure value, thereby preventing the value from being affected by artifacts.
In the related-art blood pressure measuring apparatus disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,360,029, even when pulse waves are not affected by artifacts, however, at least two pulse waves are always required with respect to a specific cuff pressure. This causes a problem in that a long time period is required for measurement.